Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: Easy (6:03, just after a two-hour nap)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: LETHE (39A: One of the five rivers of HADES) —
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What a lovely way to end the Themeless Year—with a sparkling, smooth Saturday by Robyn Weintraub, who ... well, I don't give an "NYTXW Constructor of the Year" award, but if I did, it would be hard to beat her. This year she became one of a small handful of names I most look forward to seeing on the byline. Her themelesses are generally chock full of lively expressions, and mercifully free of obscurities and junk, and today's was no exception. Always helps my disposition toward a puzzle when 1-Across is a gimme, but it's especially nice when that answer is also delightful. I had "Let's! Do! the Time! Warp! Agaaaaain" in my head the entire solve. Maybe it helped my speed, I don't know. It definitely helped my mood. So fun to figure out OCHO (off of SO-SO) and then drop I CAN RELATE and PHONED IT INright next to each other, bam bam. Great phrases! Colloquial, in-the-language, right on the money. RED HOT answers that HIT THE SPOT! Speaking of HIT THE SPOT, that's where I hit my first (and only) wall: I threw that answer Across, figuring I'd be off to the races, doing a quick clockwise lap around the grid, when ... nothing. Well, IMPS, and then nothing. My passage to the NE and other points E, blocked! With hands figuratively in prayer position, I returned the abundance of answers I had in the far west and tried to work from there, and once again, whoosh, off I went.
No idea how I got HASN'T A CLUE (with its ... quaintish phrasing?) off of just HAS-, but I did (27D: Is thick). Thought 38D: Speeds through the Downs, say had something to do with crosswords (nice clue, whoever's responsible!)*, but after a cross or two, I got GALLOPS. And here is where I both hurt and helped myself. I saw the HADES clue, which was a cross-reference, and when I saw the cross-referenced clue (39A: One of the five rivers of 56-Across), I knew I was dealing with the Underworld. Sadly, though, my brain hiccuped and instead of thinking the river was the 5-letter answer at 39-Across, I imagined it was the 4-letter answer at 36-Across ... and so I wrote in STYX (!??!!) in ET TU's place while leaving the LETHE place blank. *River of Forgetfulness Indeed!* Oy. Such a stupid self-inflicted wound. Quickly fixed, but still, ugh. And the wildly wrong and wrongly-placed STYX had me wanting something like "EXTRA EXTRA" at 33D: Juicy news alert ("GUESS WHAT?"), which wouldn't fit, but that "X" from STYX was still Very convincing. Anyway, I left STYX just sitting there, and once I came crashing back across the grid from the SW to the SE, STYX got washed away quickly. Approaching the NE from the bottom (as opposed to from the west) made All the difference. Went right through it like it was the easiest thing in the world. Weird how your approach angle can drastically affect the relative difficulty of a section. Wrapped things up with LOSES SLEEP, the clue for which I weirdly ... never looked at? Sometimes when you're racing, weird things happen. I finished it off, safely and happily, which is all that matters. Loads of fun.
Five things:
*"Downs" is just archaic for "hills," and for some reason (perhaps following Epsom Downs in England), it became conventional in the U.S. to put the term into racetrack names (e.g. Churchill Downs) whether there were any hills around or not. There are "___ Downs" racing venues all over the country, including Presque Isle Downs in the crossword capital of America: ERIE, PA.
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Relative difficulty: Easy (6:03, just after a two-hour nap)
Word of the Day: LETHE (39A: One of the five rivers of HADES) —
Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, is one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld; the other four are Acheron (the river of sorrow), Cocytus (the river of lamentation), Phlegethon (the river of fire) and Styx (the river that separates Earth and the Underworld). According to Statius, it bordered Elysium, the final resting place of the virtuous. Ovid wrote that the river flowed through the cave of Hypnos, god of sleep, where its murmuring would induce drowsiness.The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid, Virgil (VI.703-751) writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated. (wikipedia)
• • •
No idea how I got HASN'T A CLUE (with its ... quaintish phrasing?) off of just HAS-, but I did (27D: Is thick). Thought 38D: Speeds through the Downs, say had something to do with crosswords (nice clue, whoever's responsible!)*, but after a cross or two, I got GALLOPS. And here is where I both hurt and helped myself. I saw the HADES clue, which was a cross-reference, and when I saw the cross-referenced clue (39A: One of the five rivers of 56-Across), I knew I was dealing with the Underworld. Sadly, though, my brain hiccuped and instead of thinking the river was the 5-letter answer at 39-Across, I imagined it was the 4-letter answer at 36-Across ... and so I wrote in STYX (!??!!) in ET TU's place while leaving the LETHE place blank. *River of Forgetfulness Indeed!* Oy. Such a stupid self-inflicted wound. Quickly fixed, but still, ugh. And the wildly wrong and wrongly-placed STYX had me wanting something like "EXTRA EXTRA" at 33D: Juicy news alert ("GUESS WHAT?"), which wouldn't fit, but that "X" from STYX was still Very convincing. Anyway, I left STYX just sitting there, and once I came crashing back across the grid from the SW to the SE, STYX got washed away quickly. Approaching the NE from the bottom (as opposed to from the west) made All the difference. Went right through it like it was the easiest thing in the world. Weird how your approach angle can drastically affect the relative difficulty of a section. Wrapped things up with LOSES SLEEP, the clue for which I weirdly ... never looked at? Sometimes when you're racing, weird things happen. I finished it off, safely and happily, which is all that matters. Loads of fun.
Five things:
- 34A: Some framing supplies (MATS)— somehow always thought this was spelled MATTES, but that's a different art term, it seems
- 50A: Less efficient washers (TOP LOADERS)— well now I feel inadequate. Honey, we need to go appliance shopping...
- 55A: "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" singer, 1959 (ANKA) — not too far off the mark to say that ANKA was the difference between an average and a fast solve. That "K" was incredibly valuable, allowing me to see ON THE ROCKS, which was pretty effectively hidden behind the vague [Not neat] clue.
- 54A: Last word in the first verse of "Old Mother Hubbard" (NONE)— I wrote in BONE. Apparently I don't know where the "verse" breaks are.
- 42A: Form of relief (ALMS) — had the "A," wrote in ALOE ... and the "L" was right, too! CRIMEA really saved my skin, there (35D: Annexed land of 2014)
*"Downs" is just archaic for "hills," and for some reason (perhaps following Epsom Downs in England), it became conventional in the U.S. to put the term into racetrack names (e.g. Churchill Downs) whether there were any hills around or not. There are "___ Downs" racing venues all over the country, including Presque Isle Downs in the crossword capital of America: ERIE, PA.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]